Wednesday, December 11, 2013

True Inspiration: Interview with Mr. Kent Gomez by Luigi Magsaysay

Kent Gomez

Kent is an avid runner and joins marathons. His girlfriend Magge and him at San Jose Rock n' Roll Half Marathon

I had the pleasure of interviewing Mr. Kent
Gomez. He is a native of Cebu, the oldest city located in the central part
of the Philippines. With his family, Kent moved to the United States in 1996
when he was 15 years old. He faced a lot of adversities and growing pains upon
moving to the Unites States. Going through high school, he was bullied and
became socially isolated. He joined the military afterwards in hopes of finding
direction and, in there, he found some of the things that he was longing for.
After deciding to leave the military, he worked in an assembly line and made
friends that were also native of the Philippines. He decided to go back to
school and obtain his bachelor's degree. Soon after, Kent was able to acquire
his degree and pursued further education and attained a master's degree. Today,
Kent is one of the brilliant young counselors of Skyline College and has been
working there for three years now. According to him, working as a counselor is
his way of helping young adults today who are facing the same circumstances
that he encountered when he was in their position. When asked if he would've
changed anything in his experiences leading to the man that he is today, he
gladly said no. All the things that he encountered and dealt with made him a
stronger person, inside and out. Despite all the circumstances and adversities
that he faced, Kent kept on moving forward and kept on striving to attain his
goals.

VIDEOS

I. Family Background

II. Leaving the Philippines

III. Settling in the U.S.

IV. Life in the U.S.

V. Being Filipino in the U.S.

VI. Reflections

I. FAMILY BACKGROUNDKent briefly talks about his family background and his roots. He shares stories of him growing up and what was it like to grow up in the Philippines.

II. LEAVING THE PHILIPPINES

Kent explains his journey upon leaving the Philippines until the day he first set foot in the United States of America.

III. SETTLING IN THE U.S.Kent shares his initial experiences when he first moved to the United States.

IV. LIFE IN THE U.S.

Kent talks about his hardships and the difficulty in adjusting to the Life in the U.S.

V. BEING FILIPINO IN THE U.S.

Kent explains how he maintained connection to the Filipino culture. He also shares the things he miss about the Philippines and how he frequently visits whenever he can.

VI. REFLECTIONS

Kent shares his reflections on his experiences and that he would not change anything about it. According to him, everything that he experienced contributed to the person that he is today.